Paulus wants to turn our men’s doubles pairs into world beaters

Uphill task for Sivasangari to retain Malaysian Open crown

KUALA LUMPUR: Newly crowned national champion S. Sivasangari faces a daunting task to retain the Malaysian Open squash championships women’s title.

The Kedahan, ranked 40th in the world, is seeded third and she takes on a qualifier in the first round.

Sivasangari is expected to take on sixth seed Tinne Gilis of Belgium in the quarter-finals but the real challenge will be in the semi-finals as world No. 33 and second seed Liu Tsz-Ling of Hong Kong may loom.

The top seed is Egypt’s Omneya

Abdel Kawy.

The 19-year-old Sivasangari is aware of the pressure she’s under after she struggled in patches against lesser opponents during the National Championships last week.

“For me it’s all about learning to handle the pressure. There’s a lot of pressure on me especially since I’m seeded third,” said Sivasangari.

“I will face a strong challenge from Tsz-Ling to reach the final. This is also the last event before the Asian Games in Jakarta next month, so I want to see how my performance is and work on polishing up my game.

“Of course my confidence level is also pretty high now. But there are quite a few top players featuring in the Malaysian Open so I want to do my best in defending my title,” said Sivasangari.

In the first qualifying round, former world No. 5 Low Wee Wern beat Anna Serme of the Czech Republic 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil. The Penangite faces Iran’s Sarvenaz Komasi for a place in the main draw. KUALA LUMPUR: Let’s work together as a team.

Newly appointed men’s doubles head coach Paulus Firman wants to work closely with his predecessor Cheah Soon Kit to make the department a formidable force once again.

Despite rejoining the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) only in March, the 49-year-old Indonesian has earned the trust of the coaching and training committee (CNT) to arrest the dwindling fortunes of the men’s doubles team.

Paulus’ immediate focus will be to help Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong to recapture the form that once made them one of the most fearsome pairs and Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi to make a breakthrough.

The two national elite pairs are not in the world’s top 10 and haven’t won a title to date this year.

Soon Kit, meanwhile, will remain to handle the back-up squad and has been tasked with grooming more young players into world beaters.

But Paulus wants the entire men’s doubles set-up to be united.

“I hope to work closely with Soon Kit. I’ll sit down and have an in-depth discussion with him when he comes back from his break,” said Paulus.

“I believe that in order to build a very solid men’s doubles department, the elite and back-up squads must flourish together.

“The first change I would like to make is to get the elite and back-up shuttlers to train together more often. We’re not having enough joint training at the moment and I want it to be done frequently.

“With that, it will create a sense of togetherness between the seniors and juniors.

“It would also increase the competitiveness internally among the shuttlers. The seniors will not take their places for granted while the juniors are motivated to push themselves up the ranks.”